Pull rope for upwardly acting doors



July 27, 1954 BEALL I 2,684,846

PULL ROPE FOR UPWARDLY ACTING DOORS Filed Dem, 8, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

July 27, 1954 BEALL W 2,684,846

PULL ROPE FOR UPWARDLY ACTING DOORS Filed Dec. 8, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

////a//zzy Patented July 27, 1954 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,684,846 PULL ROPE FOR UPWARDLY ACTING DOORS Russell M. Beall, Chicago, Ill., assignor to Overhead Door Corporation,

corporation of Indiana Application December 8, 1951, Serial No. 260,699

11 Claims. 1

This invention relates to improvements in a pull rope for upwardly acting doors.

The principal objects of this invention are:

First, to provide an inexpensive arrangement of guide pulleys, anchors and rope for attachment to an upwardly acting door which permits the door to be pulled downwardly from its extreme elevated position without having the rope become entangled in the ways of the door or lying loosely on the floor when the door is closed.

Second, to provide an inexpensive means for conveniently lowering upwardly acting doors regardless of the heighth of the door.

Third, to provide a pull rope harness for upwardly acting doors that will extend upwardly with the door in open position regardless of the heighth of the door while still leaving a portion of the rope at a convenient level for pulling the door downwardly.

Other objects and advantages relating to details of my invention will be apparent from a consideration of the following description and claims. The drawings, of which there are two sheets, illustrate a highly practical preferred embodiment of my pull rope and harness.

Fig. 1 is an inside elevational view of an upwardly acting door.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary perspective View of the door in raised position and of a portion of the pull rope harness mounted along the doorjamb at the side of the door opening.

Fig. 3 is an elevational view of one of the guide pulleys adapted to be mounted on the doorjamb.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary perspective View of a lower corner of the door with a portion of the pull rope harness attached thereto.

In Fig. l I have illustrated a more or less conventional upwardly acting door mounted to close a door opening between side jambs l. The door consists of a plurality of horizontally hinged door sections 2, a portion of the hinges being illustrated at 3. The end hinge fixtures are provided with rollers 4 guidingly retained in vertical guide rails 5. A spring counterbalance structure 6 is mounted on the wall above the closed position of the door and is provided with a shaft 1 having a drum 8 on which a lift cable 9 for lifting the door is wound. As is more particularly shown in Figs. 2 and 4, the lift cable is directed downwardly alongside one of the rails and attached to a reinforcing plate or bracket I9 mounted on the lower corner of the door.

it is pointed out that the door illustrated is. of

Hartford City, Ind., a

greater than average heighth for closing relatively high openings. My invention is particularly useful when applied to extra large doors of twelve feet and more in heighth. When doors of this type and size are of relatively light weight so as not to require a chain hoist or similar mechanism for moving them, the door can be lowered by means of a rope that depends from the door in elevated position. If such a pull rope is simply attached to the door and if the door is relatively high the rope will either move upwardly out of reach when the door is opened or will hang downwardly and touch the floor when the door is lowered. My rope harness eliminates the necessity of a chain hoist and the inconvenience of a hanging rope when applied to high doors of this type.

Mounted on each of the corner reinforcing plates or brackets It by striking inwardly the ears II from each bracket is a guide pulley 12 having its yoke l3 pinned between the ears. The intermediate length of a pull rope M is trained through the pulleys and if desired through intermediate eyes l5, as at it. The ends of the rope ext-end upwardly from each of the pulleys l2 to upper pulleys I! having their yokes 18 secured to the side jambs I of the door opening by eyehooks I9. Desirably two short chain links 20 connect the yokes to the eyehooks. After passing around the pulleys I! the ends of the pull rope are extended downwardly and attached to other eyehooks 2| secured to the doorjambs at a convenient lower level, say three feet, above the floor. The upper eyehooks it must be positioned at least halfway up the door opening from the floor in order to permit full upward opening motion of the door.

When the door is opened, as illustrated in Fig. 2, the lower ends of the rope remain attached to the doorjamb where they are readily accessible for giving the door an initial downward motion by pulling on either end of the rope. As the door descends, creating slack in the Side reaches of the rope, the slack is taken up in a double reach as the lower edge of the door descends below the pulleys I! at the side of the door. Thus there is no extra slack to hang down and become dirty by contact with the floor which may be dusty or greasy, particularly when the door is used in a garage. The rope is at all times clean and accessible and is not likely to become rapidly frayed or worn due to its guided support in the pulleys I2 and [1.

While I have illustrated intermediate guide pulleys for the rope at each side of the door, it is obvious that one of these pulleys I! could be omitted by anchoring one end of the rope to the eyehook which would still be mounted at least halfway up the door opening.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. A pull rope harness for an upwardly acting door mounted between side jambs comprising, guide pulleys horizontally pivotally mounted at the lower corners of the door, other guide pulleys swingably secured to said side jambs by two chain links and eyehoolrs secured to the doorjambs at least halfway up the door opening, fixed anchors secured to said doorjambs substantially below said eyehooks and less than six feet above the ground, and a pull rope having its ends secured to said anchors and having its intermediate portion trained through said pulleys and across the lower edge of the door.

2. A pull rope harness for an upwardly acting door mounted between side jambs comprising, guide pulleys horizontally pivotally mounted at the lower corners of the door, other guide pulleys swingably secured to said side iambs by two chain links and eyehooks secured to the doorjambs approximately halfway up the door opening, fixed anchors secured to said doorjambs substantially below said eyehooks and less than six feet above the ground, and a pu l rope having its ends secured to said anchors and having its intermediate portion trained through said pulleys and across the lower edge of the door.

3. A pull rope harness for an upwardly acting door mounted between side jambs comprising, guides mounted along the lower edge of the door, guide pulleys swingably secured to said side jambs by two chain links and fasteners secured to the doorjambs at least half way up the door opening, fixed anchors mounted at the side of said door substantially below said fasteners and less than six feet above the ground, and a pull rope having its ends secured to said anchors and having its intermediate portion trained through said pulleys and guides and across the lower edge of the door.

4. A pull rope harness for an upwardly acting door mounted between side jambs comprising, guides mounted along the lower edge of the door, guide pulleys swingably secured to said side jambs by fasteners at least halfway up the door opening, fixed anchors mounted at the side of said door substantially below said fasteners and less than six feet above the ground, and a pull rope having sends secured to said anchors and having its inte "mediate portion trained through said pulleys and guides and across the lower edge of the door.

5. A pull rope harness for an upwardly acting door mounted in a door opening of a wall comprising, guides mounted along the lower edge of'the door, a guide pulley swingably secured to said wall by two chain links and a fastener secured to the wall at least halfway up the door opening and to the side thereof, anchor means secured to said wall to the sides of said opening, one of said means being located substantially below said pulley and less than six feet above the ground, the other of said means being located on the other side of and halfway up said opening, and a pull rope having one end secured to said one means and having its intermediate portion trained through said pulley and guides across the lower edge of the door into supported engagement with the other ofsaid means in the lowered position of said door and rope.

6. A pull rope harness for an upwardly acting door mounted in a door opening of a wall comprising, guides mounted along the lower edge of the door, a guide pulley swingably secured to said ,wall by a fastener secured to the wall approximately halfway up the door opening and to the side thereof, anchor means secured to said wall to .the sides of said opening, one of said means being located substantially below said pulley and less than six feet above the ground, the other of said means being located on the other side of and halfway up said opening, and a pull rope having one end secured to said one means and having its intermediate portion trained through said pulley and guides across the lower edge of the door into supported engagement with the other of said means in the lowered position of said door and rope.

'7. A pull rope harness for an upwardly acting door mounted in a door opening of a wall comprising, guides along the lower edge of the door, a guide pulley swingably secured to said wall ap proximately halfway up the door opening, a pull rope trained through said pulley and guides across the lower edge of the door, and anchors for the ends of said rope secured to said wall on opposite sides of said opening, one of said anchors being located below said pulley and less than six feet from the bottom of said opening.

8. A pull rope harness for an upwardly acting door mounted in a door opening of a wall comprising, guides along the lower edge of the door, a guide pulley swingably secured to said wall approximately halfway up the door opening, a pull rope trained through said pulley and guides across the lower edge of the door, and anchors for the ends of said rope secured to said wall on opposite sides of said opening, one of said anchors being located below said pulley and within reach of persons standing at the bottom of said opening.

9. A pull rope harness for anupwardly acting door mounted in a door opening of a wall comprising, a guide pulley mounted toward the bottom of the door, other guide pulleys swingably secured to said wall at least halfway up the door opening, fixed anchors secured to said wall substantially below said guide pulleys and less than six feet above the ground, and a pull rope having its ends secured to said anchors and having its intermediate portion trained through said pulleys and across the door.

10. A pull rope harness for an upwardly acting door mounted in a door opening of a wall comprising, a guide pulley mounted toward the bottom of the door, other guide pulleys securedto said wall at least halfway up the door opening, fixed anchors secured to said wall substantially below said guide pulleys and less than six feet above the ground, and a pull rope having its ends secured to said anchors and having its intermediate portion trained through said pulleys in the rope, said rope being at least long enough to permit the bottom of saiddoor torise tothe level :of said -top cross member, and a pulley mounted on said one side member above said anchor, said rope being trained over said pulley and being extensible tangentially therefrom-both upwardly and downwardly directly to said idoor,

the distance of said pulley above the bottom of 5 said doorway being equal to the length ofsaid rope minus the distance between said pulley and said anchor.

6' References Cited in the file 0! this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 112,278 Rand Feb. 28, 1871 905,883 Keller Dec. 8, 1908 1,497,821 Williams June 17, 1924 

